


Afterstorm

by PearlyWrites



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, For the sake of More Angst, Homophobia, It's just combining the movie and show universes, M/M, Multi, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Polyamory, Slow Build, Sort Of, Then it evolves into, for a little while, just a little
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-27 04:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13872939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PearlyWrites/pseuds/PearlyWrites
Summary: Cole has gay feelings for Jay but Jay denies his in favor of Nya, then shenanigans with accidental dimension-jumping bring his feelings to the forefront where he can't deny them anymore.This presents a problem but Nya suggests an unorthodox solution.





	1. A Bit of Backstory

**Author's Note:**

> Called Afterstorm cuz that's what a bunch of people on one of the Discord servers I'm on agreed it should be called. It sounded soft and light so I liked it.

When Cole first met Jay, he was, he later thought, just a little too young to really understand what love outside of family meant. He thought he saw his relationship with Jay as brotherhood - he cared a lot for the loud boy, even if they rubbed each other the wrong way on occasion. Zane came along shortly after, will all his quirks, but he didn't intrude on anything. When he came in on Jay having fallen asleep on Cole's shoulder during a movie, he never said a word, like that was just a normal brother thing to do. Eventually, Master Wu brought Kai into the picture and Jay asked if his sister was hot; Cole assumed Jay was joking. They were teens, those were just things teenage boys said, even if Cole never found girls to be exceptionally attractive.

Then they actually  _met_ Nya.

Cole didn't expect to be hurt like he was when Jay suddenly kept going out of his way to impress Nya. It was like he was a totally different person around her, and Cole couldn't figure out  _why_. He'd known Jay longer than Nya did, they were closer; so why was Jay acting so different now?

It took a long time, some personal reflection, and a bit of internet research, but Cole finally figured it out:

He loved Jay. In a romantic sense, like how his father had loved his mother.

... But Jay didn't love him back. He only had eyes for Nya.

Cole never told anyone, but he cried himself to sleep over that for months after.

Even after Lloyd joined and assumed leadership of the team, proved himself worthy of Cole's trust, he never confided his secret. They were a team, but this was his problem and the team didn't need to be burdened by his unrequited feelings. He would rather suffer in silence than have his teammates treat him differently. Then something... peculiar happened.

Nya took an interest in him.

At first, he was confused. They'd known each other for a while at that point - why was she only now looking at him romantically? He'd later find out it was because of some dumb matchmaker machine, but the hurt, bitter part of him saw an opportunity.

A chance to get back at Jay.

He'd left Cole in the dust for some girl who was apparently better and more appealing than him, but now that same girl was seeking  _Cole_ out instead. It was the setup for the perfect revenge. He'd prove to Jay just how much better he was by stealing his own girl from him and make the blue ninja regret ever leaving him behind.

It was, admittedly, very petty on his part, but he justified by telling himself that he needed a significant other in his life, so why not Nya? (The truth was he'd never fully gotten over losing Jay, but he'd die before admitting that.) After many shallow insults and pointless fights, Jay eventually won Nya back but at that point, Cole mostly didn't care anymore. He was so... emotionally exhausted from all of this. So he surrendered the fight for Nya, with only his pride bringing him to argue with Jay about it when provoked.

Things calmed down a little after that. Cole and Jay grew close again, close enough to be called best friends, and Cole gained a newfound appreciation for Nya. She was strong and confident, like her brother, and when she unlocked her powers of water, she finally officially established herself as an invaluable member to the team. While Cole never loved her like he loved Jay, he enjoyed her company and conversation. Things finally seemed to be finding a balance again. He could forget his pain in the adventures he shared with his teammates.

Then, that incident with the paparazzi happened. And something was very different between Jay and Nya after that. Like Lloyd mentioned, Cole had a strong sense of deja vu in the moment, but he couldn't figure out why, nor what on Earth had happened to bring his best friend and only female teammate so close. Cole would stumble upon them sitting together in silence, as if what they had experienced didn't need to be spoken of.

... Or was too much for words.

Either way, the both of them didn't seem eager to talk about it, so Cole gave them space and shoved the feeling of betrayal down again. No one else ever caught Cole's eye (and it wasn't for lack of trying), so he resigned himself to essentially being forever alone and carried on with his life.

At least until  _this mess_.


	2. A Bit of a Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a reminder, this takes place post-season 7 but pre-season 8 design changes.

"Oh, Cole, I'm so glad you're here! Everything'll be okay now!"

Cole stood, stock still, as someone approximately Jay's height and weight wrapped their arms around Cole's chest and refused to budge. He didn't look, sound, or even dress like Jay, and yet... something in his heart told him...

"Jay?" he choked out.

The Jay-lookalike peered up at him with big blue eyes, framed by dark freckles and darker curly hair. "Yeah, do you know where we are?" he asked innocently, speaking in an accent that Cole couldn't place.

"Uh, it's - we're in Ninjago City," Cole said, arms hovering in midair. A part of him wanted to remove Jay's arms from around him before people started asking questions, even though another part of him secretly enjoyed the contact. "You know, where we're scouting a thing out for Lloyd?"

Jay cocked his head. "Mmm... no, we were chasing some evil-lookin' guy before we all got separated." He looked down at Cole's chest. "Wait, when did you change outfits? And..." He frowned lightly in a way that dug into Cole's heart. "Why does your voice sound different? What happened?"

 _I could ask the same to you..._ "I, um..." Cole caught a couple across the street staring at them, which finally spurred him into gently pushing Jay's arms off from around him. "Let's... head back to the  _Bounty_ , okay?" He sent a quick blip to Pixal to let her know where they were to pick them up and almost jumped out of his skin when Jay grabbed his hand. "What are you-?!" The words died in his throat when he caught sight of Jay's wide-eyed, innocent look, as if this behavior was perfectly normal for the boy who'd sworn his life to Nya.

"What's wrong?" Jay asked sweetly and Cole prayed to whatever gods that might be that the other ninja couldn't see his blush growing darker.

"Just... uh... let's - get back to the others," Cole repeated dumbly and tugged Jay along to the pick-up point.

Jay giggled and fiddled with the bright orange scarf draped around his shoulders. "You're acting silly," he said, gently bumping his temple against Cole's shoulder. Meanwhile, Cole's face was burning up and he was internally screaming. What was going on with Jay? What was going on with  _Cole?_   Even on the rare occasion when Jay seemed to show affection towards him, Cole was a master of keeping it under control. He'd had literal years of practice, and yet, here he was, blushing like a dumb schoolgirl! Over a  _hug_ and  _holding hands!_

And yet...

He had wanted all of this so badly, for so long, that... this was all a dream come true. He had never wanted anything more than this, to just hold Jay close and protect him... Jay was perfectly capable of defending himself, of course, but that didn't change how Cole felt. He was just... so small...

Cole jerked out of his thoughts in time to realize they were almost to the meeting point in the park but he hadn't responded to Jay's comment in a few minutes. He glanced down at the familiar stranger only to see him looking rather content. The Jay he knew would have gotten impatient or irritated at having been ignored for so long. Maybe...

But he had responded to 'Jay' and called him Cole! How could it  _not_ be Jay?

... He was gonna need help from the team.

 

 

Not-Jay frowned up at the descending  _Bounty._ "Wait... that's not what the _Bounty_ looks like."

Cole was beginning to wonder if Jay had hit his head somewhere. "Mmm, no, that's what the  _Bounty's_ ALWAYS looked like. Do you have amnesia or something?" he tried to joke, though it sounded weak.

Not-Jay's brow (which, Cole just noticed, was lacking the familiar notch) furrowed and he shook his head. "Well, it looks a lot  _like_ the  _Bounty_ , but the  _Bounty_ has TWO dragon heads on the front, not one. And... the design on the sails looks different."

Cole literally had no idea how to respond to that. The  _Bounty_ really had, as far as Cole knew, always looked like that, even during Captain Soto's time sailing it. Before he could attempt to solve this conundrum, though, the  _Bounty_ was just about to land and Cole's thoughts were derailed once again by Not-Jay actually letting go of his hand. For a second, Cole panicked, wondering if he'd done something to offend Not-Jay, but the boy seemed perfectly fine and, as the rope lowered to let the two board the flying ship, Cole realized it was actually good Not-Jay had let go of his hand - he really didn't want to explain why straight-as-a-board Jay was acting... well, pretty gay.

If Not-Jay thought Cole looked and sounded different, he was in for quite the surprise when he met the rest of the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These have got to be the shortest chapters I've ever written in my entire life. I wanna segment the story where I think it matters, though, so guess we'll just deal with it lol.


End file.
